Entries in Lincoln-Mercury
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The folks at Petrolicious sent over their latest video, and it hit a chord. For years the De Tomaso Pantera has suffered for not being pure-blooded. It’s Italian bodywork was drawn by an American living in Italy and working for Ghia — Tom Tjaarda — and hid a 351 Ford V8 under its taut lines. If that wasn’t blasphemy enough, it was sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers where it would rub shoulders with the Mercury Bobcat (a badge-engineered Pinto), German-built Capri, Montego, Marquis and Lincoln Town Car, and sold by salesmen that looked like Herb Tarlek from TV’s WKRP in Cincinnati.

Though I’ve never driven one, the other half has owned two; a yellow car with chrome bumpers that was followed by a Group 4 that was the late Warren Tope’s spare race car. She and her late husband, along with a gaggle of car-mad friends, took that car from a pile of parts to a complete and road worthy vehicle over a couple of years. So when this film about a man and his company car came across my desk, I both understood and couldn’t resist. And, just to round it out, we’ve included the Jay Leno’s Garage episode on the Pantera. Enjoy. — CAS